Chapter 2 Chapter Two Formal Introduction

On the 28th, 29th, and 30th of January, neither Mercombe nor William Amory left the meeting place.While the Bushmen, driven by instinct, indiscriminately hunted wild game and beasts in the green near the waterfall, the young astronomer kept his eyes on the river.This prehistoric natural landscape intoxicated him and filled his soul with new emotions.He, the man of numbers, the scientist who crouches over his book day and night, always tethered to the eyepiece of a telescope, watching the rise and fall of celestial bodies on the meridians or calculating occultation data, now enjoys the wonderful time here.In the mountains, on the densely forested mountains, on the uninhabited peaks shrouded in mist from the waterfalls of Molkata.For him, it is a kind of joy to appreciate the poetry of the almost unknown emptiness and solitude here, and re-soak his spirit exhausted by number speculation. .His new situation also speaks volumes for his enduring patience, which the Bushmans lacked.Therefore, scientists always give calm answers to the hunter's blind accusations, which cannot calm him down in the slightest.

On January 31, the last day stated in the letter of the respected Mr. Alley came.If the scientists in question were still absent on this day, William Amory would have to sail home, which would have been a great embarrassment to him.This delay, too, would continue indefinitely, yet how could he wait indefinitely? "Mr. William," said the huntsman, "why not meet them? We may meet them on the road, and there is only one way, and that is the river. If they are true, as the letter in your hand says, they will flow upstream from this river." And up, we're sure to meet them."

"Your idea is excellent! Morcum," said the astronomer, "let us meet them down the falls, and return to camp from the valley to the north. But tell me, my lord Bushmen, that you are familiar with most of the Orange River?" "Yes, sir. Twice I have floated up the Orange River from Walpass Point to where the Hart River joins it on the Telandois frontier." "Except for the Molkata Falls, are other sections of the river navigable?" "As you say, sir, but I would add," retorted the Bushman, "that in the latter part of the dry season the five or six miles above the mouth of the Orange River are nearly dry, so that the estuary forms A sandbar was formed, and the waves kept coming up, and were broken into spray again."

"It does not matter," replied the astronomer, "for the mouth of the Orange River was open when our Europeans landed from the sea, and there is no reason for their delay, so they will come." The Bushman didn't speak, put his rifle on his shoulder, whistled to Thomp, and walked ahead of his companions on a narrow path.The road receives groundwater from the falls at a depth of 400 feet. It's nine o'clock in the morning, and the two explorers--you can really call them that--are walking down the left bank of the river.There are neither embankments nor towpaths to provide a smooth and easy path, but the steep banks, covered with thorn bushes, disappear into a green promenade rich in trees.Those flowering filamentous parasites of which Pocher spoke, tangled from tree to tree, spread a green web before the two travelers.Therefore, the axes of the Bushmen were not idle, ruthlessly chopping down these garlands that blocked the way.William Amory breathed in the hearty scents of the woods, especially the scent of the camphor tree, which shed its innumerable blossoms.Fortunately, there were still some glades, and some stretches of bare banks--banks with quietly flowing streams with fish swimming in them--to enable hunters and companions to travel westward more quickly.By 11:30 in the morning, they had covered about 4 miles.

A breeze blew from the west, in the direction of the waterfall where the roar could no longer be heard.On the contrary, the noise could still be clearly distinguished as it traveled downstream along the river. Here William Amory and the hunter stopped and saw the river go straight three miles ahead of the worker.Here the river bed is deeply sandwiched between two chalky cliffs rising to 200 feet in height. "Just wait here, and let us rest too," said the astronomer, "I have no legs of your hunter, Master Morcombe, than travel; I am more accustomed to roam in the starry sky .Let's rest for a while. From here we can see the river for two or three miles, and if there are few steamboats at the nearest bend, we won't miss them."

The young astronomer leaned against a daisy (plant) four hundred feet high, from which he could see far across the river.The hunter, hardly used to sitting down, continued to walk up and down the bank, while Tomp startled flocks of wild birds without attracting the slightest attention from his master. After waiting for half an hour, William Amory noticed that Mercomb was staying a hundred paces away from him, showing special attention. Had he spotted the steamboat they were anxiously waiting for? The astronomer left his moss seat and walked towards the river where the hunter was, and in a few moments he was at his side.

"What do you see, Morcum?" "No, I don't see anything, Mr. Williams. But, if my ears are accustomed to natural sounds, I seem to hear a seldom-heard murmur downstream." Having said this, the Bushman asked his companion to keep quiet, put his ear to the ground, and listen with all his attention. After a few minutes the hunter stood up, shook his head, and said: "Maybe I'm mistaken. All I thought I heard was the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves or the river running over the stones on the bank. But..." The hunter still listened attentively, but heard nothing.

"Morcomb," said William Amory, "if the sound you thought you heard just now was made by the motorboat's machinery, it would be heard better down the river. Water can be quicker and more accurate than air spread the sound." "You're right, Mr. William, I've caught the sound of hippos passing over the water several times in this way." Clutching wild vines and grass clumps with both hands, the Bushman climbed down the steep bank until the water reached his knees, then stooped and put one ear flat on the water.After listening attentively for some minutes, he exclaimed:

"Yes, yes! I was not mistaken. The sound was a few miles downriver. It was the sound of slapping water. It was a monotonous sound that continued underwater." "Is it the sound of the propeller?" "Very likely, Mr. Amory. The sound is not far from us." William Amory knew the hunter's natural senses, whether of sight, hearing, or smell, and did not doubt his judgment.The hunter climbed up to the bank, and the two decided to wait where they were, from where the flow of the Orange River could be easily monitored. Half an hour passed, and William Amory, even with his natural equanimity, thought the wait simply too long.How many times had he thought he saw the outline of a moving boat on the water, but each time his eyes had deceived him.Finally, a cheer from the Bushmen made his heart beat violently.

"Smoke!" cried Morcum. William Amory looked in the direction the hunter pointed, and had no trouble seeing a light feather fluttering just around the bend in the river.There is nothing left to doubt. The boat came quickly.Soon William Amory could see the continuous black smoke from the chimney, mingled with the white vapour.Evidently the crew was speeding up with full firepower in order to reach the rendezvous point, but the steamer was still about seven miles from the Molcutta Falls. It was midday, and the place of waiting was not favorable for the steamer to dock, and the astronomer decided to turn back.At the foot of the waterfall.As soon as he told the hunter about his plan, the latter walked up the road that had been opened up when he came here without saying a word.William Amory, following his companion, looked back for a last look at the bend in the river, and caught sight of the Union Jack flying over the stern.

The way back was smooth, and an hour later the Bushmans and astronomers stopped a quarter of a mile from the falls.Here the banks form a semicircular creek.In its deep, bank-to-bank waters, steamboats can easily moor and dock. The steamer should not be far, for it must have been going faster than the two walkers.But it still cannot be seen from the bank, because the tall trees that shade the banks slope towards the river, blocking the extension of sight.Yet, if not the hiss of the steam, at least the shrill whistle was audible, which stood out against the incessant roar of the falls. The sound of the whistle has not been interrupted.The crew tried to communicate in this way that they had reached the waterfall.This is greeting. The hunter fired his gun in answer, and the sound of the gunfire became a repeated echo on the river bank. The steamboat finally showed up.William Amory was also discovered by the Upstream Men. Under the signal of the astronomer, the steamboat turned to the creek and slowly moored.A cable was thrown up, caught by the Bushmans, and tangled around a stump. Soon, a tall man jumped briskly onto the bank and walked towards the astronomer.Others began to come ashore one after another. William Amory immediately went up to meet him and asked: "Is this Colonel Everett?" "You are Mr. William Amory?" replied the colonel. Astronomers greet and shake hands with their colleagues at the Cambridge Observatory. "Gentlemen," said Everett, "permit me to introduce you to the honorable William Amory of Cape Town Observatory. Mr. Amory has come to meet us at Molcutta Falls." The four fellow passengers stood beside Colonel Everett, each greeting the young astronomer and accepting the latter's greeting.Then the colonel introduced, with his British coolness, very formally: "Mr. Amory, Lord John Murray of Devonshire, your countryman; three Russian scientists on our committee representing the Tsarist government: Mathieu Strux of Brokova Observatory Mr. Nikolai Barendel from the Helsinki Observatory, Mr. Michel Zorn from the Kyiv Observatory."